We’re not quite sure if it’s possible for the media to humiliate itself and more than they did Tuesday night as they collectively stepped on a rake in breathless anticipation of a “big” Rachel Maddow “scoop” about President Trump’s tax returns.

The White House was left fuming Tuesday night as Rachel Maddow revealed that she had obtained Donald Trump’s tax returns, which he filed in conjunction with wife Melania.

In her MSNBC show, Maddow said that the 2005 document had been obtained by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who received it from an unknown source in his mail box.

It showed that Trump earned $253 million that year but wrote off $103 million as losses, which lowered the amount of tax he had to pay dramatically.

In response, an indignant White House told CNN: ‘You know you are desperate for ratings when you’re prepared to violate the law to push a story about tax returns from over a decade ago.’

The release concludes that ‘it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns,’ and fired off a parting shot about the ‘dishonest media.’

Johnston told Maddow that as he had not solicited the documents, neither he nor Maddow had done anything illegal.

Maddow added that the First Amendment protected her right to report on the documents, which were the first two pages of his 2005 1040 form.

The second page was stamped ‘client copy,’ leading to speculation online that Trump may have leaked the documents himself to distract from the continuing investigation into his Russian ties and the GOP’s swingeing Medicare cuts.

The White House claimed in its statement that Trump paid $38 million on an income of $150 million that year, in addition to sales and excise taxes and employment taxes.

So after the MSNBC moron tweeted that, the media went into hyperdrive in anticipation. “We’ve got him now” was the prevailing theme from the gullible out there. Here’s the clown spokesboob for Hillary Clinton’s failed campaign before and after:

More Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president and of the direction the country is headed, according to Morning Consult/POLITICO surveys conducted over the past six weeks.

The most recent poll, conducted March 9-13, found that 52 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, compared with a 49 percent approval rating shortly after Inauguration Day. This month’s survey found that 43 percent of respondents do not approve of the president’s job performance.

When asked about the direction of the country, 46 percent of Americans said they believe the country is on the right track, up 4 points since a late January poll and up 17 points since immediately after Election Day, when just 29 percent of voters felt the same way. Still, 54 percent of voters said the country is on the wrong track, 4 percentage points lower than immediately after Trump took office.

Despite several public controversies, the two measurements have remained relatively steady, and almost all of the movement has been in Trump’s direction among all voters.

Much of the gains track with positive economic indicators during his first few weeks in office, including a strong jobs report and stock market gains. The S&P 500 Index is up more than 100 points since Trump’s inauguration, and on Friday the White House took a victory lap after government figures showed a gain of 235,000 jobs during his first full month in office.

The media has unleashed a relentless attack on Trump since he’s been inaugurated, and he’s only getting strong. Meaning his enemies will freak out even more today.

Now you’re a national laughingstock with zero credibility. Good luck getting that back. This could only get better if Attorney General Sessions subpoenas the rube and her reporter pal to find out where they got the return.

Perhaps we can also have an investigation to find out why Trump paid a larger percentage of income tax in 2005 than his predecessor, a famed socialist and a failing “news” network: